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Fawad Khan and Mahira Khan enact a game of hide and seek in a field that has turned golden by the rays of the winter sun.

She is Neelofar, a girl who cannot see, and he is Mansoor Ali Khan, a celebrated poet enraptured by the girl who has stumbled into his life. In a scene that has been played out in the teasers and in the songs preceding their upcoming film Neelofar’s release, she playfully blindfolds him. He searches for her, perhaps gaining a whiff of understanding about what it must be like to be devoid of sight and to have to be guided by his remaining four senses. When he finally does get a hold of her, they hug, and then stumble and fall to the ground.

The movie’s director and writer, Ammar Rasool, is excited — this was the moment that his filmmaking dreams were made of.

“The fall after they hug was not part of the script,” he says. “When they fell, their expressions were so natural and, thankfully, we managed to capture it all on film. We decided that they would deliver their remaining dialogues lying down.

“As filmmakers, we always hope that something special will happen all on its own. When everything falls into place — the weather, the location, the actors, the story, the camera crew — the cinema fairy sprinkles a little magic dust.”

It’s a poetic account, in keeping with how Neelofar promises to be: a feel-good movie laced with beauty, romance and poetry, featuring the country’s most popular on-screen couple.

“I didn’t realise just how exciting it is for the audience to see Fawad and Mahira together on-screen again,” laughs Ammar. “It was only when I started reading comments on the internet that I would get this wide smile on my face. I had no idea that this is how things are.”

It is evident, though, that Neelofar will be a far cry from the two actors’ past projects together. It doesn’t seem to be an emotional melodrama, such as the hugely popular TV serial Humsafar, and nor is it reminiscent of the action-packed remake of The Legend of Maula Jutt, a cult classic. This makes sense, though. The pair’s return to screen needed to be markedly different in order to avoid comparisons with their past hits and allow the audience to see them in a new light.

Ammar confirms this. “There are movies which may have action or socio-political commentaries with a love story woven into the plot. Neelofar is not like that. This is simply a love story with Neelofar’s inner beauty at the centre of the movie. She is not jaded by the cards that life has dealt her, and it is her joy, curiosity, bravery and openness that draw Mansoor Ali Khan to her.

“This is what Mahira brings to the character. I have heard people say that an actor can completely become a character, but I don’t think that this is entirely possible. Every individual has an inner beauty and, when they act, it acts like a colour that has been added to them, like watching them through a tinted glass. I feel that Mahira brings her inner beauty and love for life to this character, and her portrayal of Neelofar is dependent, to a large extent, on what she is like in real life.”

Ammar continues: “She really worked hard on her character, and would always be worrying about playing it correctly. She, as well as us, all knew that, for the story to be believable, she would have to make the audience believe that Neelofar is visually impaired.”

Meeting Mahira Khan at a press conference organised before the movie’s release, I pose a question to her: was the notion of playing a visually impaired girl intimidating? “Yes, obviously,” she nods, adding, “It is said that it is an actor’s biggest longing to play a character who can’t see. Perhaps it is because we have seen so many great actors play such roles. So, Neelofar is a dream role for me, but this isn’t only because she is visually impaired. There is much more to the character, to the story.

“I got over the role’s intimidation by doing all that I could. I met two visually impaired girls and, at some point, while spending time with them, I realised that I had been so wrong about how someone who can’t see behaves. They are brave and curious and their remaining senses are extremely sharp. They rely on [their inner] energy in order to make judgements.”

She gestures vaguely around her, “For example, why do I like this person sitting next to me? It can’t be his or her face, because I can’t see that, so it has to be something that I feel.”

At this point, Fawad, sitting next to her, interjects, “So what’s the energy that you feel right now?”

Mahira laughs. “I think it is really good energy. I like it when you’re in a good, fun mood — my favourite kind of Fawad!”

The virality of the images and videos surfacing on social media during Neelofar’s promotion feature Fawad and Mahira laughing, taking selfies, visiting crowded college campuses and taking city-wide bus rides, all of which are a testament to how well-loved the actors’ on-screen pairing is.

Individually, they can inspire unbridled excitement amongst fans, and this is not surprising in the least. Mahira is considered iconic not just because of the repertoire of her work but also because of the manner in which she conducts herself on public platforms and how she interacts with her fans. Meanwhile, Fawad is known for his acting, and he too has a strong and loyal fan following. They are both extremely glamorous, well-dressed and articulate. It is no wonder, then, that there is a special kind of hype that builds when they reunite on-screen, especially in a movie that promises to be a pure romance.

Ammar says, “There is a lot of joy within the storyline. It isn’t the sort of movie where you’ll feel bad for the female lead because she can’t see. Mahira and I met a lot of visually impaired people during our research, and they were all insistent that we should not show them as pitiful, because they are individuals who are living full lives in their own special way.”

He adds: “I also have to credit Fawad, who came on board as executive producer. His input as I developed the script and the characters was invaluable. I don’t think there is anyone else like Fawad in the industry. As this is my debut feature film, I don’t know many people in the film industry, except for those I worked with in Neelofar. I was this relative nobody who came to Fawad with an idea — and it was an odd cookie of an idea, which wasn’t like the usual commercial movie — and for him to love it so much that he put his money, name and face behind it… a lot of people would not have the courage to do something like this. He made his own exceptional contributions to the story.”

In his capacity as the movie’s producer and lead actor, does Fawad think that Neelofar was delayed too much? A large chunk of the movie was shot before the onslaught of the coronavirus pandemic. “All’s well that ends well,” he smiles. “Yes, maybe we should have released it sooner, but a lot was going on. There was Covid-19 to deal with, and then everyone was busy with a lot of other work.”

Mahira adds, “Earlier, I was perhaps the most eager to see Neelofar released, but now that I think about it, this was the right time for its release.”

Did Fawad imagine Mahira in the titular role as soon as he read the script? “The first choice is always the director’s,” he says. “He named her and then, yes, we unanimously decided that we should ask Mahira to play the role.”

Mahira jumps in: “When we both first got the script, Fawad hadn’t come on board yet as the movie’s producer. A friend of mine had sent the script to me, telling me that the director really wanted to cast me as Neelofar. Back then, the movie was called Garmi Ki Chhutiyan [Summer Vacation]!”

But the movie is very clearly shot in Lahore in the winter, I point out.

“Yes,” says Fawad. “It was too hot to shoot in the summer, and so we shot in the winter. But ‘Sardi Ki Chhutiyan’ [Winter Vacation] are too short, so we eventually decided to name the movie Neelofar.”

Mahira recalls, “I loved the story as soon as I heard it. Especially the premise — that there is this poet who is going through writer’s block and he bumps into this girl who is visually impaired and how she changes her life and inspires him and he changes hers. It all takes place over a few days in Lahore.”

It seems that Lahore has a special character to play in the movie.

“Lahore has so many flavours,” opines Fawad. “It’s almost Parisian in the winter, especially if you go down Mall Road and you’re surrounded by colonial architecture. I feel that it is the quintessential city of romance.”

Is he speaking from experience? I broach personal territory. Fawad smiles. “Yes, I fell in love with my wife in Lahore in the winter. It was at a restaurant on a foggy evening. Back then, Lahore used to have foggy winters, and it was like love was in the air. Now we have smog.”

Mahira interjects: “That’s typical Fawad! He takes you somewhere special and then drags you back to reality.” He clearly finds this funny. There’s plenty of Fawad’s ‘fun side’ to be seen during the Neelofar promotions.

For Ammar Rasool, the city that he calls home — Lahore — was the ‘natural fit’ for the love story that he was writing. “There are a lot of classic movies where the city and its character are an integral part of the narrative — Casablanca, Roman Holiday, Before Sunrise…” He ticks off a list.

“In Neelofar, the character of the city of Lahore forms the ideal backdrop to the love story.”

He adds, “I remember that we visited one film distributor and he suggested to us, ‘Film mein paharron ki saer karwayein’ [Take a trip to the mountains in this film]. I walked out, knowing that I would not be able to make him understand the kind of story I wanted to tell.”

While Neelofar’s promotions have understandably revolved around its two main leads, the movie also features an extensive cast, including Behroze Sabzwari, Atiqa Odho, Sarwat Gillani, Madiha Imam, Gohar Rasheed, Navid Shehzad and Rashid Farooqui. “I did this movie for Fawad,” said Behroze Sabzwari at the press conference, and his opinion was echoed by Atiqa Odho.

When Icon caught up with Madiha Imam — who plays Fawad’s manager in the movie — at the press conference, she talked about happily signing on for the role despite not being a lead. You play the lead in TV dramas, I point out. She replies, “Yes, but when you have such an amazing team come together, with Fawad Khan and Mahira Khan as the leads, how can you say no? It was also on my priority list to work with Fawad. Besides, I knew that my character would have something worthwhile to do in the film, and I would get the chance to perform. I enjoyed that.”

While the Fawad Khan-Mahira Khan pairing may be Neelofar’s trump card, the box office is a fickle beast, and there needs to be more to a movie to ensure box office success. Neelofar may be walking off the beaten track, eschewing dhol dhamaka and the usual commercial tropes, but it may just be a romantic escape into a fog-laden Lahore, to the tune of a lilting soundtrack composed by Zeeshan Vicky Haider.

“One of my favourite writers, Milan Kundera, writes in his book The Unbearable Lightness of Being, that different people yearn to be seen by different looks,” says Rasool. “There are some who want everyone’s eyes to be on them and they are celebrities. There are those who particularly want the eyes of their acquaintances to be on them and these people are defined as hosts or social butterflies. And then there are those who just yearn for the eyes of the person they love. These people are lovers.”

I wait for him to connect the dots.

“I found this fascinating. In Neelofar, Mansoor is a celebrity and the world’s eyes are on him, but then he finds someone, falls in love with her, and starts caring the most about her eyes. But she can’t see. That’s how the characters evolve.”

How poetic. In one of the teasers, Mansoor and Neelofar indulge in banter and flirt while playing a game of bait-baazi [verse contest]. Very romantic. Very good looking. Neelofar’s trump cards, so far. But one gets the feeling that the movie will have a lot more to offer than just those.

Originally published in Dawn, ICON, November 23rd, 2025